Jersey Boys

Saturday, May 28th, let's just say getting to Times Square at 1:30pm for an 8pm show and waiting in the hot sun for hours on end was worth it. I did, however, manage to pull off two first and second row seats, student rush price ($27), which made it all the better. And I must say, It was a really great show.

After seeing Catch Me 3 times I've really grown fond of the whole interacting with the audience/telling a story thing, and that was exactly what Jersey Boys was. It began with a really nice segue from Ces Soirées-là into Tommy DeVito (Dominic Nolfi) talking about how it all started. I was sort of expecting it to be sort of "concert-y" but the balance between the break out into song and the storyline worked perfectly, then again, that's what a good musical is. It also had a wonderful balance between the drama, the romance and the comedy.

There were also moments when people in the audience just had to sing along, I mean these songs are way before my generation and I still knew them.

And of course, the cast was incredible. I actually had the pleasure of seeing the show with two phenomenal understudies, Dominic Scaglione Jr. (Frankie Valli) and Nathan Scherich (Bob Gaudio). Of course I have heard all the hype about Ryan Jesse and Jarrod Spector, but these two guys were amazing. Scaglione turned the switch from the young, new to the group "younger brother" of DeVito to the powerful, decision making lead singer so smoothly and Scherich had one of the the most beautiful voices I have ever heard. Matt Bogart (Nick Massi) had this funny, tension relieving presence on stage, so much so, that even in some of the most dramatic moments, something would just slip out of his mouth and the audience would just break out into laughter. But as I said, perfect balance. And of course, Dominic Nolfi. What can I say? He was amazing. His voice, his dancing, his accent, his sharp movements that sort of looked like choreographed dance moves even when he was merely strolling across stage.

All in all, everyone in the show was incredible, and of course, so nice at the stage door.

Me, Matt Bogart, Dominic Nolfi and my friend Alice

Me, Alice and Dominic Scaglione, Jr.

I did feel sort of bad that there was this huge crowd outside of Catch Me If You Can and only a few stragglers outside Jersey Boys, not to mention my surprise. I mean, who doesn't want to get a playbill signed by amazingly talented performers from an incredible show? When Scherich came out he sort of dashed out really quickly, barely giving anyone enough time to tell him, "Great job!"as he rushed by, which was sort of a letdown because he was wonderful and I really would've loved a picture with him. However, when Nolfi, Scaglione and Bogart came out they were all so nice. And due to the not-so-huge crowd I actually got a picture with all of them! They all seemed genuinely happy that we had stayed to tell them how great they were which is always something nice to see.

Great story. Great cast. Great songs. What else does a great musical need?